Sleeping in Light
by ozzypoos
Summary: Noticing General Sephiroth’s slowly degenerating respect for his authority, Hojo devises a plan to disassociate his prized experiment with the cause of this sudden rebellion.
1. Wednesday

**Title:** Sleeping in Light

**Plot:** Noticing General Sephiroth's slowly degenerating respect for his authority, Hojo devises a plan to disassociate his prized experiment with the cause of this sudden rebellion.

**Pairings:** None as of yet. Seph/Zack friendship.

**Warnings:** Other than Hojo? None at the moment - it's subject to change in future chapters.

He hated Wednesdays. Not that he'd ever allow another living soul to know that he had so much as a feeling of emotion towards anything, but of all the days in the week… Wednesdays were the day he hated most of all. It wasn't even for the injections or mako treatments he had to endure. The sickness and sensitivity afterwards honestly didn't bother the General either.

No.

The hate was directed at the one whose crawly fingers now touched and firmly held his arm into place as yet another needle punctured his skin.

Cool cat-like eyes followed those bony fingers up the length of scrawny arms before his cold gaze found itself locked onto the one thing Sephiroth despised above all else. Hojo. There was just something about that pathetic excuse of a man that called for instant dislike, and despite the fact that he'd been underneath the Professors personal i care /i for the past twenty three years, Sephiroth had never found one shred of evidence that the dear Professor had any likeable qualities within him. Not one.

The long metal needle withdrew itself after another round of vaccinations were injected into him. It left him with the same feeling every time, and it never seemed to stop unnerving him how he could i feel /i every little detail as the added vaccination dose crawled its way through his veins. It was always an icy feeling – one he would by no means get used to. He'd long ago stopped asking what it was that he needed to be 'immunized' from, or why every time he was injected with it, it left him feeling that vile substance flow throughout his body, his senses sharpening slightly with each dose.

"Hmm, reaction time seems to have remained the same," The Professor muttered absently to himself as he ran the pad of his forefinger over the puncture wound. The wound was already well on its way to healing, and with that in sight, a calculating look entered into Hojo's dark gaze. "JL1A continues to be absorbed without problem - a very promising sign." Reaching past his subject, whether Hojo still realised he was even there or not was debatable, he dropped the used syringe into the hazardous waste bin before taking hold of the clipboard perched on the cool metal station right beside where Sephiroth was sitting, and pulled it over to him.

The sound of a pen scratching on paper was heard as Sephiroth wordlessly moved to put his jacket back on, but he found his actions halting as the Professors sharp voice broke through the quietness. "Did I say that we were finished with today's schedule yet Sephiroth?"

Continuing on as if nothing had ever happened, Sephiroth simply glanced apathetically in Hojo's direction as a single slender brow rose up in question. "Considering your lack of interest moments beforehand… I had assumed we were done." It was looking as though he had thought wrong.

"It's best you don't i assume /i anything my dear boy!" Hojo scoffed as he shook his head in disappointment. "Mighty General of Shin-Ra indeed… I didn't raise you to presume anything - doing as such will only give you weaknesses that I will not condone in your personality." Holding the clipboard in one hand, he pointed over to another testing station as he barked out. "I've still got this months Mako treatments to administer, and I won't have our procedure delayed simply because you i assumed /i things were done for today."

Glancing silently over to the designated area, there was a small part in the back of his mind that found a sick sense of pleasure in thoughts of the dear Professors demise by his hand. Oh how he wished that it was that easy, but the more rationalised portions of his mind knew that it simply couldn't be done. Pity really, since he doubted that no amount of missions or terrorist groups would ever come close enough to satisfying him as Hojo's downfall would.

Sephiroth gave Hojo no further attention as he shouldered off his jacket before making his way over towards the next part of his examination. There was little doubt within that this particular injection was the Professors favourite part, and Sephiroth had long ago come to notice that the inept scientist found some form of pleasure having this 'power' over him. Inwardly he snorted over the idea, and for the first time since attending this session today, Sephiroth's lips twitched slightly into a smirk as he amused himself with that knowledge. If only Hojo knew just how much he allowed such a 'control' to be placed over him, but it was the only ace he truly had up his sleeve in his current situation, and one he would savour until Hojo did something particularly indecent to upset him. Until then, he'd simply continue to play along with the incompetent mans delusions.

"Well hurry up and take a seat. We don't have all day Sephiroth."

Hojo's shrill voice broke the General out of his musings and brought his mind back into the present as he passed an annoyed glance over his shoulder at the Professor. It was about as rebellious he'd allow himself to seem in Hojo's presence, but it was enough to get the other man frowning back at him. This time he did allow a smug smirk to grace his features before he eloquently turned and sat himself down onto the chair.

With one brow rising up impatiently, the smug expression that had been highlighting Sephiroth's features previously was gone, and was replaced with a sense of indifference as he smoothly murmured. "I don't have all day Professor."

He knew it was something that would only raise the Professors ire at him, but even as he found the angered glare thrown in his direction – followed shortly by the muttered murmuring as his arm was harshly seized – Sephiroth found that he simply didn't i care /i that his response would bring nothing but further 'inconveniences' to him. He'd made his point and that was all that mattered.

----------

It seemed to have become a regular habit in his Wednesday routine to swing past the high ranking officer's quarters, and though i technically /i he was still classified as a SOLDIER second class, the others in this section didn't even batt an eye at Zack as he strode his way towards his destination. He made idle chatter as he passed the odd first class SOLDIER, but didn't stay longer than necessary before he was back on track and heading towards the General's living quarters.

Zack had learnt long ago that there was no point in knocking anymore when it came to things on this particular day, and didn't find himself surprised at all to find the door unlocked when he tried it; the gesture a sure indication to what he'd find within. As the door slid open with a soft hiss, Zack didn't think twice about entering the General's room as he stepped in. After a typical session with Hojo, he usually found Sephiroth looking more miserable than usual as his friend forced himself to go over paperwork while weathering the injections after effects. His initial scan of the room instantly noted the distinct lack of his superior, and the fact that there didn't seem to be any stacks of documents to be signed left Zack with an unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Seph, you better just be in your room changing." Zack grumbled out as he attempted to storm through his superiors living room. It was wishful thinking on his part, but at least if that i was /i the case, then he'd have an excuse for his blatant disregard for rank as he told the General off for making him worry. When he stepped into the bedroom only to find it empty, Zack knew then and there where he'd find Sephiroth. He knew that Hojo was trouble – there was just something about that slimy scientist that got Zack's back up – and the fact that lately he seemed to find a sick form of pleasure in testing Sephiroth's limits.

"Shit Seph!" The words were already flying out of his mouth as he caught sight of the usually refined General now kneeling on the floor beside the toilet bowl. Silver hair washed in with his black leather as Sephiroth supported his upper frame by resting on the seat of the toilet.

Half hunched over the seat, Sephiroth barely reacted to the call of his name. Dilated green eyes slowly rolled over to view Zack as the second class SOLDIER rushed over and there was the sudden cool press of skin against his forehead. His sluggish mind couldn't register what was pressed against him, but considering the lack of pain that followed, Sephiroth found himself coming to the decision that it could stay there. Blinking slowly, his gaze moved up to regard the other SOLDIER as his head remained comfortably perched on top of his arms. "It seems your unrestricted tongue has affected how tightly controlled my words are."

While the voice was soft, Zack couldn't help but grin widely at the meaning behind them. Trust Sephiroth to not only be drugged out of his mind, but to still be able to have some semblance of perfect speech. "You know that I'm all one for snide remarks to those deserving," Zack softly murmured as he moved to seat himself on the floor next to his superior. "But you'd think by now you'd learn not to push Hojo's buttons. It's not worth seeing you like this Seph."

"When it's the only sense of satisfaction I receive…" Sephiroth said with a subtle hint of a slur in his voice, before a poor attempt of a snort was made. "I'm hardly going to pass up such opportunities."

Despite knowing that the gesture would go unseen, Zack grin faded back into an understanding smile at the General's words. "Hey you better pull yourself together soon and show your usual big bad General self or else you'll get an entire battalion of the new recruits coming in today seeing you in all of your current glory," While they were given a set amount of freedom and restrictions, he was well aware that Sephiroth had even less freedom than all of them combined – especially when it came to Hojo. It was something that not many knew about, and even among the First Class SOLDIERs that knowledge wasn't widely spread. "I can bring the toilet bowl with me if you want? I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult to rip it out of the wall... sure you'll have a mess and massive water damage to return to, but hey! At least you'll have your toilet with you."

He was so used to Zack's random idiotic words by now that his Second in Command's suggestions didn't even cause a scoffed remark. Granted acting so naturally at the moment wasn't the first thing on the General's mind, but if it had been, Sephiroth didn't doubt that he wouldn't have found himself reacting. He hated to think what sort of motivational methods Zack used to encourage those he commanded over. Somehow, the General felt a pang of pity for those cadets. "I believe that the toilet is fine where it is. Besides, I'll be well before the welcoming ceremony."

Fighting off a wave of nausea, Sephiroth almost dared the sickness to jump to the next level as he forced his body to sit up straight. It never took on the challenge though, and the sick feeling within remained as a slight sigh tore its way past his lips. He'd forgotten that the new recruits were due to arrive today, as he'd become far too wrapped up in his taunting of that inept scientist.

He had a job to do, and this feeling of illness inside was far too counterproductive.

----------

The pen rolled slowly along the desk without any sense of control as to where it was going, what direction it was heading, or anyway to change its slowly spiralling path. To put it simply, the pen held no control over its destiny, and its entire fate was residing in the hands of the one who owned it. The thought was more than pleasing to its owner, and as they reached out a finger to stop the pens movements, their darkly amused chuckle filled the office as the pen halted midway through its roll.

If only everything was under his control like this pen was. Sephiroth was once. His little weapon used to follow his commands without so much as an arrogant nature or sarcastic remark, but it wasn't like that anymore. Hadn't been like that for the past year ever since that common lout arrived. He didn't even care to remember their name, only the fact that they'd had far too much of a detrimental effect on his prize projects psyche.

It hadn't been obvious at first, but slowly over time he'd begun to notice changes in Sephiroth's behaviour. Oh the great General of the Shin-Ra army thought that the changes weren't noticeable to anyone, let alone someone like him, but he'd put far too much time and energy into his upbringing and training to not notice any slight change in their characteristic. It had been small initially. A subtle glare here, and a slight loss to the indifferent exterior there, all the while there were times he'd watched the General over the security cameras and also noted a slight increase in Sephiroth's social behaviours – one that extended outside of the mandatory need to give orders and speak up at meetings.

The pen on the table fell into his grasp and Hojo picked it up. The stack of results and readouts from the day's experiments went entirely ignored as the Professors attention remained fixated on the pen. Squeezing the plastic tube within his palm, his cold gaze dropped down to his computer monitor as it displayed the file for one Zack Fair – SOLDIER Second Class.

He needed to put a stop to the negative impact before it got too much worse. It was already bad enough that Sephiroth had begun displaying verbal signs to this harmful influence, and the Professor was certain, without a doubt, that if it were to continue, Sephiroth would fall further from his control than he already was. He would b not /b lose Sephiroth - especially not after all the time and money they'd invested into the Jenova program – which left him with no other option but to devise a plan to separate his prized possession from that detrimental fool.

TBC

A/N - Cloud will be playing a large part in this fic but he won't be making an appearance until the next chapter.


	2. New Recruits

The hall was lively and full of loud chatter as a multitude of young boys excitedly introduced themselves to each other. There were a few dotted around the horde that kept to themselves, either talking on their PHS or simply trying to remain unnoticed in the background. One such recruit remained off to the side of the room, the shadows masking the few blonde spikes the framed their young face as narrowed blue eyes glanced around.

All the others were only seen as pathetic in his eyes, and a look of scorn filled their blue depths as he sized them up against himself. Many of them were larger, but even despite that, Cloud just iknew/i that he was much better. He'd proved that much back in Nibelheim against those fools who'd ignored him – showed them just exactly who they were dealing with before finding their challenge not worthy of his attention. Size wasn't everything, and he made damn certain that those who thought it did were corrected.

It was one of the reasons why he'd left Nibelheim to begin with. There was no real challenge remaining in that small strangling town, and he'd found himself wanting to become stronger and prove himself capable, to be a hero and recognised as much as General Sephiroth himself. Oh how he wanted strength like that. To be admired and loved by the people in such a way, and have ieverybody/i recognising your power.

The room fell into a quiet murmur as the high ranking SOLDIERs walked out onto the stage. Cloud found it almost amusing to see the wave of silence that rippled over the other recruits before his attention too was drawn over to the SOLDIERs. The recruitment SOLDIER stepped forward and away from the others – their appearance easily spotted by their smaller and less muscular frame from the more capable fighting warriors. It was obvious by hushed excited chatter around him to how the other recruits felt, but he thought they were nothing but fools. Cloud was more than well aware that those few up on the stage were only third and second class SOLDIERs. It wasn't the level he wanted to achieve, and so he saw them as nothing important. He was aiming only at becoming a SOLDIER First Class – nothing less.

"First off I'd like to welcome you all to the recruitment ceremony for the great Shin-Ra army. For the next week, you'll not only under go group assignments and the buddy program but you'll all need to have a further medical examination and introductory classes before your real training begins." The SOLDIER's voice easily cut through the hall as the remaining recruits focused their attention onto the speech. He took a pause during his speech – his actions almost as if he was trying to access their worthiness – before the sound of a small intake of breath could be heard over the microphone and the SOLDIER continued speaking. "To introduce you to the various job prospects within the company, Shin-Ra has been generous to invite the greatest general of all time to come and speak on their behalf. Listen to his words well, for some of you might be fortunate enough to work alongside General Sephiroth in the future to come."

The reaction was immediate all throughout the large hall, and just as quickly as the excited hushed murmurs broke through the recruits, they fell deadly silent in awe as the sight of the General stepped out onto the stage. Everyone's attention was focused solely on Sephiroth's figure, and as the General moved gracefully along the stage, even those untrained could feel the sheer amount of power emanating from Shin-Ra's greatest. The SOLDIER at the podium took a step back and away as General Sephiroth approached, and after taking the lower ranking SOLDIER's position, Sephiroth cast his gaze over the new recruits stretched out in front of him.

"Those of you who train and dedicate themselves will be in the position to obtain the rank of SOLDIER, while others might find their path in Shin-Ra diverting off to other departments such as the Turks, scientific departments or perhaps even find themselves in the area of medicine." Sephiroth said as his smooth voice filled the silent hall. Everybody's attention was fixated solely on the General, and Cloud would have laughed if his attention wasn't just as intensely on Sephiroth as well.

That was his goal. That man up there was all that he hoped and desired. He would become just as powerful and famous as General Sephiroth. Then, then he would return to Nibelheim and show them all that he was _more _than worthy of their stupid attention.

The entire hall broke out into excited whispers the moment Sephiroth's speech had finished and the General had left the stage. It was rare that he had time to attend the opening ceremonies since he often had missions to lead, but this had been the first year in a while that he had been free.

------

Zack had been waiting on the sidelines throughout the entire speech his commanding officer gave. He stood there quietly watching the older man for any signs of his earlier sickness. Not that Sephiroth had showed any such signs. No, Sephiroth was too 'perfect' to ever get sick, and Zack knew that it would be a cold day in hell before the dear General would openly show weakness.

He moved to join Sephiroth's side after the General had left the stage. "Looks like you made quite the impact in there, sir," Flashing a wide grin at his commander, Zack kept his voice cheerful as he noted. "You'll probably be even more of an inspiration for the little tykes."

Sephiroth didn't even bother to roll his eyes at Zack's useless blabber. What the President decided to do in his spare time wasn't any of his concern – even if it did end up showing him around like some little show chocobo. While he didn't like it, Sephiroth would tolerate it if it was only done on the _very _odd occasion. He had better things to do with his time than babysit a horde of untrained children. He'd give them attention, if and _when_ they made it into the SOLDIER program. Not before.

"I hear that you've put your name down for the buddy system this year," Sephiroth observed as he walked out of the hall and into the corridor. He wasn't entirely surprised with that fact, if he was to be honest with himself, but he did admit there was a slight case of annoyance within him. Now he'd have to pick out another SOLDIER to accompanying him on his missions, and while they were all good in their own way, Sephiroth found it such an inconvenience.

"You bet'cha!" Zack announced brightly as he stepped up to walk alongside Sephiroth, "I figured that since I was taking so much from this wonderful company, that I should give a little back."

Sephiroth wasn't fooled by Zack's words. He held no doubt that the second class wanted nothing more than a little protégée under his well muscled wing – since only the first and second classes were assigned such duties. "I do hope that you don't plan on leading him too far astray, Zack. It wouldn't do well on his record to stain it so early in his career."

Sephiroth's words were met with a knowing smirk as Zack glanced up towards his friend. "I would never dream of doing such a thing, General." The expression disappeared as it was replaced with a rare look of seriousness. "You'll be fine, right?"

It didn't slip by Sephiroth's notice what Zack was trying to say. He'd been holed up in the bathroom not long before the opening ceremony, and while he still felt the remnants of Hojo's treatment, Sephiroth hardly needed all of this 'babying'. He was more than capable of taking care of himself. "There is hardly any need to be concerned, SOLDIER. I would suggest, though, that if you want someone half decent, that you head back to the hall before they're all snapped up."

Zack didn't leave at first. Instead he took the moment to inspect Sephiroth thoughtfully to see if it was all just for show, or if the worst was over and done with. Although, knowing his friend, Sephiroth wouldn't show signs of it either way. "Aa, I get it. You better go and do some paperwork before I see you doing any missions. I'll kick your ass if I hear you've done otherwise, 'kay?"

Zack knew that he would never be able to 'kick Sephiroth's ass', but that didn't mean that he couldn't threaten the dear General's backside a little. He didn't wait for a reply before leaving Sephiroth to his own devices and heading back towards the hall. Zack hardly wanted to get stuck with a dud-recruit after all.

------

Zack had made it back just in time to look through the list of recruits and handpick out the one he wanted from the bunch. Sure, he had to elbow his way and pull rank on a few of the other SOLDIERs, but none of them gave him _too_ much trouble. Glancing down the list, Zack's gaze slid over the name and hometown each recruit was born in.

Midgar, Junon, Kalm, Costa, Corel, Nibelheim.

Nibelheim?

Glancing over to the names listed beneath that town, Zack had to admit surprise when he saw a total of three recruits named. They hadn't had anyone from Nibelheim ever since he'd arrived. It was so much more of a backwater town that it was only because of the reactor stationed there that anyone knew of it. Gongaga wasn't that much better, but at least it had the convenience of being closer to the major towns and cities than Nibelheim did.

How could he ignore another 'country bumpkin' like himself? They needed to stick together, after all, but the question was, which one did he pick?

Studying the names thoughtfully, Zack ignored the calls from behind him to 'hurry the hell up and pick one' as he considered his options. "Just a minute," He grumbled as an impatient SOLDIER tapped on his shoulder. Geez, didn't people know how to wait these days?

There was only one way to decide who was lucky enough to be his little protégé. Slipping his eyes closed, Zack twirled his finger around in the air a few times before nose-diving it right down onto the list of names. Opening his eyes to peer down at which one he picked, blue eyes twinkled mischievously as he grinned.

"Cloud Strife, today is your lucky day." He announced before informing the recruitment SOLDIER behind the desk. "I'll take this one." Flashing his best grin, Zack watched as the name was crossed out.

"Here is the information on your recruit. Have fun Zack."

Flashing the recruitment SOLDIER his finest grin, Zack took the folder and thanked the man before spinning around and disappearing off to read about his new little protégé.


End file.
